Mechanical fiddler



June 16, 1953 K. K. MGENTYRE Erm. 2,641,867

uEci-IANIGL FIDDLER' 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 11, 1950` 52 O- nl l June 16, 1953 AK. mmmcefN-TYRE: A'L 2,641,867

' MECHANICALFIDDLER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Apri-111,. 195o .Patented June 16, 1953 UNITED STAT-as vSolar-lor;

.Kent :Kane McEntyre, Calhoun, Ga., Vand AlvinR. --McEntyre, Gadsden, Ala.

vripemanon Amaru, 195o, serial N0.f155;21v

@4 claims. (01.46144.)

' 'This ninvention relates .to `an animated igt'i're andinore particularly to a A'figure simulating "a motions `s'unhfas are'indulged in by persons fplfay ing'addle.

The primary Yobject of the invention iste-afford Ventertainment and'amusement, and produce vvan well as rone 'of his feet inrhythmi'c timed relation.

The above and other' Vobjects may be attained by employing this invention which embodies among its features alhollow standard simulating a human body having legsand shoulders, an upright lever pivoted within 'the standard between Athe shoulders to rock about a horizontal axis, a hol'- low` figure on the uplper 'end of said lever simulating alhu'manhead, 4said hollow riigure having spaced .openings thereinsimulating eye sockets, a :.rookarin pivoted within a hollow 'gu'ebetween the openings, a pendulum Lcarried "by the rock .arm .to .hold saidvar'm in a substantially h o'rizontal position, nartilcial -eyes mounted Von'the rocklarm and visible through the openingsinth'e hollow figure and rneansv connected Vto the lever and extending through said body. for rocking said lever .and .moving the hollow gure whereby the artificial .eyes will Vmove behind 'thes pacedfopen in s. l

the'r features yincludes. a memberpi'voted to the hollow viigure 'adjacent its lower end and simulating a humer lower jaw,y an arm on 'saidfpivoted member extending into the'hollow figure and control 'means connected to the last namedarm and extendinginto and through the hollow .standard for actuating Vsaid arm and-{moving 'said member simultaneously with the upright fleve'r.

L'Still other 'features include power AYdriven frne'ans Y below the hollow standard and coupled wit `fthe various movable element'sfthe'reof ."forfmovlings'aid elements in unison. Y

Further features include a fiddle mounted in front of the hollow standard, a solid member'pivoted to the standard to move about a horizontal axsadjacent the upper end thereof, 'said "solid member simulating Van arm,'a cuppedhand carried by the'solid member, a bow carried bythe cupped hand'and lying across the fiddle, and means/connected with the solid member Vandextending into the 'Snollo'w standard forfactuating 'saidsoli'd rnember causing 'the bow 'to move `across the 'ddle.

Still `*other features .include -aidmovabl'e `hand lying :across the neck ofthe riddle, andlnea'ns eonnec'ted to 'thehand and `extending rthrough the Athollow standard for moving Ysaitll'i'arrd.

A further andfimportant feature 'of the invention resides in -afmember pivoted'beneath th'hellow standard "and representing a "foot adjacent the 'flow-er of'oneleg o'f 'said standard, and 'means actuated in -un'lsonlw-i-th the moving of the other elements of the device for raisingand leweringthe--toe fof the 'foot in unison w'ithffthe' movements'fof vthe other par-ts -ef `the animatedhgure.

T'lth'e drawing-s: 4l'E-ignre I1 is a front view partly broken "away, illustrating a mechanical ligure embodying the l'features of 'thislinvention vvtogether 'with the actuating mechanism thereof "Figure 2 is-aside view ofthe gure illustrated in 1Figure l; f F'g'u'reB is a horizontal sectional'vi'ew taken substantially along the line v3 3 'of lFigure l;

ligurel isa -fvertic'a'l sectional view taken tsub- 'and t6, and iat its lower end with a solid lleg I8 anda hounw legge. rhesoiidiieg 'le or thebod'y -l terminatesin a foot 22 while 'the'lower .end f the hollow leg 26 is wholly open as will be readily understoo'd'upon reference'to vEi'gu're l. uP'roecting laterally from'the shoulder lli of thehollow vstandard are spaced parallel ears 24 between -wifiichlis pivotally supported'the 'upper end Uof a 'solid member'which simulates .arhuman arm andcarresfattslower enda cuppedhan'd .2'8 in which `a d'dleibo'wis held. Supported infront of fthe hollow standard is a fiddle BZa'cross which the v'bow '3U extends, 'so that as'the arm i6 s'moved about itsfpivotgth'e bow Y(ill will ybe moved -iacross the fiddle. l

Extendingfdownwardlyalongithe hollow standard t2 adjacent the A"side opposite'the solid arm Y vl2 'formed 'adjacent its' upper end with shoulders Il member 26 is a hollow member 34 which simulates a human arm, and pivotally supported as at 36 adjacent the lower end of the arm 34 is an artificial hand 38, the fingers of which lie across the neck of the ddle 32 as will be readily understood upon reference to Figure l.

The upper end of the hollow standard I2 is provided midway between the shoulder portions I4 and |6 with a substantially V-shaped neck opening 40, and pivotally mounted as at V42 within the hollow standard immediately below the opening 40 is an upright neck post 4| the upper end of which carries a hollow gure 44 which simulates a human head. This figure is provided in its front wall with spaced openings 46 representing eye sockets, and pivotally supported as at 48 substantially midway between the openings 46 is a rock arm 50 which carries artificial eyes 52 which align with the openings 46. A pendulum 54 is carried by the rock arm 50, and is designed to hold said rock arm in a horizontal position irrespective of the movements of the hollow figure 44. It will thus be seen that as the upright neck post 4| moves about its pivot 42, the eyes 52 will appear to move in the eye sockets. Pivotally supported adjacent to the lower end of the hollow figure 44 as at 56 is a member 58 which simulates the lower human jaw of the hollow figure, and extending into the hollow figure from the member 58 is an arm 80 by which the member 58 is made to move about its pivot and thereby simulate the movements of the human jaw.

Pivotally supported as at 62 within the hollow standard 2 is an upright control lever 64, and

coupled to said control lever adjacent its upper end is a control cable 68 which leads through the opening 40 in the hollow standard I2 and is connected to the jaw actuating arm 60 previously referred to. A similar control cable 68 is connected to the upright control lever 64 adjacent its upper end and leads downwardly through the hollow arm 34 and is connected to the artificial hand 38. It will thus be seen that as the control lever 64 rocks about its pivot 62, the jaw member 58and the artificial movable hand 38 will be moved in unison.

Fixed t the pivot of the solid arm member 26, and extending into the hollow standard I2 is a lever arm 10, and coupled to said lever arm and extending downwardly through the hollow body and lower end of the hollow leg 20 is a control 'cable 12. A similar control cable 14 is coupled to the upright lever 4| adjacent the lower end thereof, and to the upright control lever 64 adjacent its lower end, and this cable I4 leads downwardly through the open end of the hollow leg 20 as will be readily understood upon reference to Figure 1. It will thus be seen that when pull is exerted on the cables 'I2 and 14 the various movable elements previously described will be moved in unison.

Mounted beneath the hollow standard I2 is a platform 'I6 which is provided with an opening I8 through which the cables 12 and I4 extend, and formed adjacent said opening 'I8 is a similar opening 80, the purpose of which will be more fully hereinafter explained. Pivotally supported as at 82 on the platform 'I6 is a hollow member 84 simulating a human foot. This hollow member is provided with an upwardly extending hollow cylindrical portion 86 which aligns axially with the opening 'I8 and through which the cables 'I2 and 'I4 are extended. The toe portion of the member 84 overlies the opening 80 in the platform 16, so that an object moving upwardly through the opening will cause the member 84 to move about its pivot 82.

The platform 'I6 is supported at the upper end of the suitable housing 88, and mounted within said housing is a suitable power driven means or prime mover 90. A disk 92 is mounted within the housing 88 to rotate about a horizontal shaft 94 and is coupled through any suitable drive means such as a Cgear train 96 with the prime mover 90. Extending outwardly from one face of the disk 92 is an annular series of pins 98. and pivotally supported as at |00 to a wall of the housing 88 is a lever |02V which lies in the path of movement of the pins 98, so that as the disk is rotated, the lever I 02 will be moved about its pivot |00. A plunger |04 is carried by the lever |00 and projects upwardly into and through the opening 80 in the platform 16, so that as the disk 92 rotates the plunger |04 will engage the underside of the toe portion of the member 84 and cause it to rock about its pivot 82. Projecting laterally from the disk 92 beyond the ends of the pins 98 is a crank pin |06, and carried by said crank pin is a coupling |08 to which the cables 'I2 and 'I4 are connected. A suitable retractile coil spring I I0 is coupled to the lever |02, and to the housing Y 88 to hold said lever yieldingly against the pins 98.

In operation it will be evident that as the prime mover 90 is energized, rotary movement will be imparted through the gear train 96 to the disk 92. This will cause the pins 98 successively to engage the lever |02, thus causing it to move against the effort of the spring In and hence move the plunger |04 through the opening 80 and into engagement with the toe portion of the foot member 84. Simultaneously with the movement of the foot member, the crank pin |06 will exert pull on the link |08, thus causing the cables 'I2 and 'I4 to be moved and exert pull on their respective elements 'I0 and 64. Obviously as the cables exert pull on the members abovementioned, the solid member 26 will move against the effortof gravity, thus causing the fiddle bow 30 to move across the fiddle 32 and simulate the playing of the instrument. Also the hand 38 will be moved by the control cable 68 through the oscillation of the control lever 64, which in turn causes the lower jaw member 58 to move about its pivot 56 in unison with the movements of the hand 38. The movements of the cable 'I4 are of course transmitted also to the neck post 4| so that the hollow gure 44 which simulates the human head will move in an arc about the axis of the pivot 42, thus causing the eyes to appear to roll in unison with the movements of the other elements of the figure. In this way complete animation of the figure is obtained and the simulation of the human flddler is procured.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described a preferred embodiment of this invention it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction, combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

We claim:

l. In an animated iigure including a hollow body having a neck opening, a hollow arm, a movable solid arm and a head; the animation transmitting mechanism which comprises a post disposed vertically in the body `and extending upwardly through the neck opening, a pivot coupling between the post and the body below the neck opening and above the lower end of the post,

an elongate lever within the body and pivoted intermediate its ends for oscillatory motion, a hand pivotally coupled to the hollow arm, a power mechanism including :a pull element, a pull cable operatively coupled between said element and the movable arm to actuate the latter, a pull cable operatively coupled between an end of said lever and said pivoted hand, and a pull cable connected at one end to said pull element and Iconnected at its other end to the other end of the said lever and to the lower end rof the post to oscillate said post and lever in unison.

2. The invention according to claim 1, wherein said head includes :a pivoted jaw, and a pull cable operatively coupled between the jaw and said lever.

3. The invention according to claim 1, wherein said post and lever are positioned in adjacent approximately parallel relation with the pivot, axes substantially parallel, the said other end of the last, named pun cable being joined to the post and lever by extending across one end of each of said post and lever.

4; The invention according to claim 1, wherein lsaid head includes a pivoted jaw, a lever attached References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 189,907 Smith Apr. 24, 1877 624,799 Haueis May 9, 1899 1,171,125 Jones Feb. 8, 1916 1,519,410 Marx Dec. 16,` 1924 

